Analysis on the situation of subjective well-being and its influencing factors in patients with ankylosing spondylitis

BACKGROUND: To examine the subjective well-being (SWB) in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) compared with the healthy controls, and to explore the associations between SWB and demographic characteristics, disease-specific variables in AS patients. METHODS: SWB was assessed with General Well-Being Schedule (GWBS) in 200 AS patients and 210 healthy controls. Comparisons among subgroups were performed to investigate how certain aspects operate as favorable or adverse factors in influencing SWB in the patients with AS. RESULTS: Both men and women with AS reported significantly impaired SWB on all scales of the GWBS except for the Control (O) scale. The results revealed that better sleep, lower disease activity and more family care predicted higher SWB. In AS patients, positive attitude towards therapy prospect was significantly associated with higher SWB. Therapy prospect refers to the hope of patients about the disease treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with general population, SWB might be affected by the onset of AS. There are significant associations between SWB and sleep quality, BASDAI, APGAR, therapy prospect

Differentiation of Exudates from Transudate Pleural Effusion by Measuring Cholesterol and Bilirubin

Introduction & Objective: Differentiating exudates from transudate is the first step in examining pleural effusion. Moreover, it is a guide for determination of pathologic trend of background diseases and differential diagnosis. Although Light’s criteria are considered as standard in differentiating exudates from transudate, in some studies pleural fluid cholesterol, ratio of pleural fluid cholesterol to serum and ratio of pleural fluid bilirubin to serum have been considered. This study was performed to investigate the diagnostic efficacy of cholesterol and bilirubin of pleural fluid in differentiating exudates from transudate pleural effusion. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in Al-Zahra Hospital, Isfahan in 1384, where 86 cases of pleural effusion were assessed by easy and consecutive sampling method. After differentiation of patients with exudates from transudate pleural effusion, based on light’s criteria, related parameters were measured. Using ROC (Receiver Operative Characteristics) curves, area under the curve was determined following by determination of sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values. Results were analyzed by MC Nemar test. Results: From 86 studied patients, 59 cases were exudates and 27 cases were transudates. Considering the pleural cholesterol above 43 mg/dl as cut off, a sensitivity of 73.8% and specificity of 92% were obtained for the method. Decreasing the cut off level to 35.5 mg/dl, the sensitivity was increased and reached to 81.4%. Ratio of pleural fluid cholesterol to serum more than 0.3 had a sensitivity of 65%, 88% specificity and 85% efficiency for differentiation of pleural effusion while ratio of pleural fluid bilirubin to serum more than 0.6 had 76.3% sensitivity, 74.1% specificity and 75.6% efficacy. Conclusion: The criterion on 3 g/dl protein had the highest sensitivity and specificity in differentiating exudates from transudate pleural effusion and can be used as the best determinant alone. Also pleural fluid cholesterol more than 35.5 mg/dl has suitable sensitivity and specificity and the combination of pleural fluid protein and cholesterol can be used as the best practical determinant. The criterion of pleural fluid cholesterol to serum ratio more than 0.3 has low sensitivity and with reduction of this ratio to 0.14, its sensitivity increases but its specificity will decrease

Reviewing Sexual Function After Delivery and Its Association with Some of the Demographic Marital Satisfaction Factors

Background: Desirable sexual function has an important role in strengthening the marital life of the couples. Sexual disorders can cause mental pressure and affect quality of life and marital relationship. Methods: This was a descriptive correlation study in one group and one phase covering multivariables. The study sample included 384 women after delivery period that had the following inclusion criteria: the age of at least 18 years, delivery in 38-42 pregnancy weeks, primiparous and multiparous women, living in the city, single pregnancy, and twelve months elapsed from the delivery. The required data such demographic, marital satisfaction and sexual function index were collected through reporting questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods using software SPSS. Results: The findings of the study indicated that the most prevalent disorder of the sexual relationship in postpartum was dyspareunia and the least prevalent was the sexual desire. There was no significant association between sexual function and, age, education degree , body mass index ,body size and job, but there was a significant association for other factors such as the economic, residence and marital satisfaction (p<0.01). Conclusion: It is recommended that sexual problems after delivery be placed on the list of health teaching issues to pass easily this period of time. Women should be assured that these problems gradually would be improved and they should learn using proper techniques to decrease dyspareunia which is a sexual disorder in postpartum period

Effects of somatostatin analog treatment on cardiovascular parameters in patients with acromegaly: A systematic review

Background: There is a belief that in patients with acromegaly, first-generation somatostatin analogs (SSAs) might improve cardiovascular (CV) structure and function. However, most published clinical trials involved only a few patients and their results are rather variable. We aimed to conduct a systematic review on available studies on the impact of these drugs on CV parameters. Materials and Methods: A literature search was conducted in MEDLINE (OVID), EMBase, Cochrane, and ISI Web of Science for citations published until April 30 2018 to identify studies on our objective that considered changes in CV parameters. For this search, we established a Boolean search strategy using keywords related to "acromegaly," "Somatostatin analog," and "cardiovascular diseases and parameters." All study types except for case reports or conference abstracts were included. Twenty-four studies (n = 558) fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were selected for final analysis. Results: In 12 studies (n = 350), decrease in heart rate (HR) and in 4 studies (n = 128), decrease in blood pressure (BP) was significant. In 15 studies (n = 320), left ventricular mass index (LVMi) changes were significant. In 9 studies (n = 202), the early diastole to peak velocity flow in late diastole (E/A ratio) was evaluated, and in 5 of them (n = 141), the improvement was significant. Eighteen studies (n = 366) examined changes in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), 5 of which (n = 171) reported that these changes were significant. Decrease of left ventricular end-diastolic diameter was reported in only 2 studies (n = 27). Conclusion: We found that first-generation SSAs have a beneficial effect on cardiac parameters such as HR and LVMi. For other parameters such as LVEF, BP, LV diameter, and E/A ratio, we were not able to draw a firm conclusion